I'm on my 3rd bonnet!
Well, went to the Norfolk coast this weekend with the girlfriend in the 7. Half an hour on and just coming off a roundabout, splutter splutter cough
cough. Oh dear sounds very bad. Indicated, repeaters going mental, great blown bulb too. Just as I'm coming to a stop everything cuts out. Even
the clock.out I get undo the bonnet thinking the battery wire has come loose, no all good. Everything looks to be in order. Try ignition again still
nothing. Hmmm. Wait a minute what was that the girlfriend said 2 mins ago? My foots getting cramped. What's located in my passenger footwell, ah
yes the battery isolate, which I discovered is now turned off. Phew.
But that's not all it gets worse.
Jump back in car, belt up, start up, indicate, check road is clear and pull out into the A10. What the yell was that that just flew past? Oh fuck.
Lesson number one when looking under the bonnet, make sure you fix it down again afterwards. I was lucky that the road was clear both ways and I could
retrieve it with very minimal damage.
Won't be doing that again.
I've done a similar thing with my Fury , trouble is it's on gas struts .... It lifted up blocking my view ahead at
about 60 , and because of the struts didn't blow back down as I slowed !
No damage , but a bit scary steering by watching the kerb !
I'm on my 3rd bonnet!
Lol, I wrote off a mk1 Cortina like that when I was a young lad! Bonnet killed the roof and screen as it folded up and onto it and the hinges did for the scuttle. Of course nowadays It'd be well worth fixing!
A couple of years ago I'd gone a couple of miles along country roads at moderate speeds, then gave it loads of beans to accelerate onto the
A12... when I got to around 70mph my bonnet lifted off and flew over my head...
Fortunately the Force was with me, as
* It didn't hit me in the face as it came off
* It didn't cause anyone else to have an accident
* It didn't get run over by someone
* A nice man on a pushbike ran out and picked it up off the road before someone DID run it over
This was the total damage, so I reckon I got off lightly...
Rescued attachment bonnet.JPG
Scared the willies out of me, especially when I thought about what COULD have happened...
I'm still trying to think of ways to light a warning lamp (or sound a buzzer) if the bonnet catches are all unhooked while I'm on the move
(although I've now noticed that I can see a reflection of all of the latches in the back of my chrome headlights).
Its a rite of passage to loose your bonnet if you own a seven.......l
But doing it 3x is really funny
quote:
Originally posted by coozer
I have a rule that i NEVER put the bonnet back on withot latching it down, even if i know its got to come up befor ei next drive that car, unless i
have pluged the coil back to prevent it starting.
I also have an fia type isolator with the extra four connectors so it will cut the engine and short the +ve to prevent blown bulbs and the like. Not
that ive fitted it yet....
Daniel
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
A couple of years ago I'd gone a couple of miles along country roads at moderate speeds, then gave it loads of beans to accelerate onto the A12... when I got to around 70mph my bonnet lifted off and flew over my head...
Fortunately the Force was with me, as
* It didn't hit me in the face as it came off
* It didn't cause anyone else to have an accident
* It didn't get run over by someone
* A nice man on a pushbike ran out and picked it up off the road before someone DID run it over
This was the total damage, so I reckon I got off lightly...
Rescued attachment bonnet.JPG
Scared the willies out of me, especially when I thought about what COULD have happened...
I'm still trying to think of ways to light a warning lamp (or sound a buzzer) if the bonnet catches are all unhooked while I'm on the move (although I've now noticed that I can see a reflection of all of the latches in the back of my chrome headlights).
Lots of computer cases and server cases have intrusion switches that cut the power to the system if the lid is taken off. These could easily be used
to rig up a buzzer or light or something and shouldn't be too dear and should be realatively easy to source. If I had any spare time I would try
knocking something up, but as my Locost is a pile of rusting metal sat in a garage a mil away from my house (My wife jokes about it telling other
people I'll show them my kit car or at least the boxes its still in) and I have a 1970's bettle on axel stands at the back of my house and a
1984 Renault Camper I am desperately trying to get ready for T in the Park, I'll leave it to someone with more time and tallent than me.
quote:
Originally posted by Humbug
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
Scared the willies out of me, especially when I thought about what COULD have happened...
How many have you got? (I was thinking of the phrase "like a dog with two d!cks"...)
3 ??
im still on the first, and its not come off yet, but i do R clip the latches
quote:
Originally posted by Miketheconn
Lots of computer cases and server cases have intrusion switches that cut the power to the system if the lid is taken off. These could easily be used to rig up a buzzer or light or something and shouldn't be too dear and should be realatively easy to source.
i forgot to fasten down the nearside front corner on my last mnr and as soon as i accellerated hard, the wind got under it,lifted the front
corner,ripped all the other catches clean off,and smashed in about a million bits on my helmet!
so this time my car has full cage with front roll bar:
I think the Westfield has the neatest idea (as seen on "A racing car is born" ) - the bonnet has pins in the front that locate into the rear
flange of the nosecone. The back of the bonnet is held down by key latches.
Even if you forget to lock the rear latches shut, the worst that's going to happen is that the bonnet's going to clatter around until you
stop and fix it - the wind can't get under the front and lift it off.
[Edited on 6/6/11 by David Jenkins]
Got to say I'd have thought failsafe bonnet locking mechanisms were the first thing you'd think about when building these cars, the Westy mechanism is the LEAST I'd want!
i have added front and rear, in the center of the bonnet 1/4 turn fasteners that are sprung, probably dzus, they stick up when not locked so it's obvious, they saved my bonnet first or second run after adding them as one corner started flapping due to loose catch
quote:
Originally posted by clairetoo
I've done a similar thing with my Fury , trouble is it's on gas struts .... It lifted up blocking my view ahead at
about 60 , and because of the struts didn't blow back down as I slowed !
No damage , but a bit scary steering by watching the kerb !
quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
how you getting on with the MX5 donor?